#SurfacePhone #SurfacePro5 – Will Microsoft Surface Phone and Surface Pro 5 Ship in April 2017 with Windows 10 Creators Update? : Microsoft is getting to be almost as secretive as Apple as far as product releases go, but the cloak-and-dagger approach is now extending to Microsoft Surface devices as well as the new, massive update to Windows 10 – the Windows 10 Creators Update.

One source – MSPowerUser – cites April as the month for the update to drop to the public, technically called Windows 10 version 1704 – the number representing the year and month of release. If that report is accurate, then it could be one of the key reasons Microsoft is holding back the Surface Pro 5, as well as the Surface Phone “cellular PC” that they’re working on with Qualcomm.

Let’s have a snapshot look at both devices and how they’re linked with the release of the Windows 10 Creators Update.

How Does Windows 10 Creators Update Affect the Surface Pro 5 Release?

The Surface Pro 5 will reportedly come with a 4K display option, so that’s the first reason Microsoft would want to wait for the Creators Update with its 3D capabilities to be ready to ship with new devices.

We also know that the update will be “feature-locked” around the middle to end of January to give Microsoft’s dev team enough time to push fixes and enhancements before the final rollout in April.

But the thing is, we’re already seeing enhancements on recent builds of Windows 10 version 1607 (Anniversary Update) that are leading up to the next version. We’ve seen 3D coming into play, we’re seeing Cortana enhancements, a better Microsoft Edge browser experience, advanced security features for enterprise users and much more.

More importantly, we’re seeing a unifying or converging of the UI experience across desktop and mobile, which is critical for mobile devices such as Surface Pro 5 and Surface Phone.

That means the new features for Windows 10 Creators Update have already been rolled out for the most part, especially with the massive update they just dropped this morning – Build 15002.

So, what we think will happen is that Microsoft could announce Surface Pro 5 sometime within the next couple months, and then ship the devices out with Windows 10 Creators Update at a later date – possibly in April, around the time of the full release.